If you drive past an Orange County school this fall, a camera may be recording your speed, and in coming months you could face a $100 ticket if you’re going too fast during school hours.
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The county will be using a new school zone ticketing system at 12 campuses and plans to expand it by 32 more in coming years. Tickets likely will be issued starting in January. Similar cameras already operate near four schools in Winter Garden, four more in that city will start soon as will 11 near campuses in Orlando, with tickets issued starting in September.
A study done at the 12 county schools last year found drivers routinely speeding by during arrival and dismissal times, creating a safety hazard for students. For example, during two school mornings last year, 30 drivers sped through the zone near Hunter’s Creek Elementary School going at least 46 mph when the speed limit was 20 mph, according to data the study collected.
County commissioners approved a contract last month — one that could cost up to $103 million over 10 years — for the technology, agreeing to set up a surveillance system that has prompted controversy in other parts of the state for fear it will be used for wider purposes, including immigration enforcement.
But Orange officials say their cameras, put up at public schools in unincorporated parts of the county, will be used only for the narrow purpose of catching school zone speeders. Both Orlando and Winter Garden also say their cameras will be restricted to ticket speeders. All three jurisdictions say their cameras will not share information with other companies developing surveillance databases.
The camera program is designed to pay for itself out of ticket revenue rather than tax dollars. Orange’s chosen camera vendor, RedSpeed Florida, said in an emailed statement that it is “funded entirely by violators, not taxpayers.”
RedSpeed’s proposals to other Florida governments show one of its central selling points is its integration with national databases operated by Flock Safety, a company that also runs automated license plate reader cameras. Flock keeps a searchable record of where cars have traveled, regardless of whether a driver broke any law.
Flock cameras have drawn national scrutiny as the Trump administration expands immigration enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds no contract with the company, but reporting by 404 media, an online media site focused on technology, found local and state law enforcement agencies running license plates using the company’s programs on ICE’s behalf, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Tampa, which also uses RedSpeed cameras in school zones, faced pushback from council members who raised concerns that the company’s data could reach federal immigration enforcement through Flock. The city’s police chief said in a memo that city code bars RedSpeed from sharing data with Flock, and in June, the council voted to require a sworn affidavit from the company promising it won’t share Tampa’s data before a final vote on a camera expansion set for July 16.
Winter Garden’s cameras have been ticketing drivers since this spring at four schools, with two cameras at each, a spokesperson said. The city had collected about $215,000 from the program as of July 11.
Winter Garden’s agreement with RedSpeed created the option to integrate with a company like Flock, but the city opted not to use that feature, a spokesperson said.
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The Orlando has installed 11 school zone speed cameras so far, using a different company, and plans to add 10 additional ones soon.
The City of Plantation, near Fort Lauderdale, set up its RedSpeed program so that its plate reader cameras could merge data with outside networks, including Flock, according to city documents.
However, under a 2023 Florida law, a school zone speed system can’t be used for “remote surveillance” but only to document speeding violations.
In its contract with Plantation, RedSpeed flagged that legal question, asking the city whether the surveillance features might conflict with the state’s remote-surveillance ban. Plantation officials responded that the law was new and that “future case law will provide further clarification as to what constitutes ‘remote surveillance,’” according to contract documents.
Under state law, a school zone camera can only cite a driver for going 10 mph over the speed limit — and only during the windows around the school day, roughly from a half-hour before school starts to half hour after dismissal.
The penalty is a flat $100, but the fine carries no points on a license and, by law, can’t be used to raise insurance rates. A speeding ticket issued by an officer does both.
Within 30 days of a violation, the registered owner of the car gets a notice including the date, time and location of the violation, and instructions on how to view the footage.
Drivers have 30 days to either pay the $100, request a hearing, or file a sworn statement that, for instance, someone else was driving or the car was stolen. If no action is taken, the county can escalate the notice into a formal traffic citation.
The money from each ticket is split up, so Orange County gets $60 to administer the camera program and $5 for a school-crossing-guard recruitment program. Orange County Public Schools gets $12, earmarked for school security, student transportation or safer walking conditions. The rest goes to the state.
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The new speeding cameras in Orange will be set up at:
- Cheney Elementary (Forsyth Road near Dominion Avenue)
- Discovery Middle (Lake Underhill Road near Spring Island Way)
- Dr. Phillips Elementary (Wallace Road near Sunbeam Avenue)
- Hunter’s Creek Elementary (Town Center Boulevard near Lord Barclay Drive)
- Meadowbrook Middle (North Lane near Wendy Drive, and Powers Drive near Chalet Court)
- Oak Hill Elementary (Hiawassee Road near Tallowtree Lane)
- Palmetto Elementary (Texas Avenue near Duskin Avenue)
- Rock Springs Elementary (Rock Springs Road near Faye Street)
- Sally Ride Elementary (4th Street near 8th Avenue, and 11th Avenue near 6th Street)
- South Creek Middle (Wetherbee Road near Cypress Pond Boulevard)
- Three Points Elementary (Goldenrod Road/SR 551 near Mai Tai Drive)
- Wedgefield K-8 (Bancroft Boulevard near Ortega Street)
Orlando’s speeding cameras will be located at:
- Audubon Park K-8 School (Corrine Drive)
- Blankner K-8 School (South Mills Avenue)
- Boone High School (South Mills Avenue)
- College Park Middle School (Maury Road)
- Dover Shores Elementary School (Gaston Foster Road and FL-15, near Inter Larado Place and Conway Road)
- Engelwood Elementary School (La Costa Drive)
- Innovation Middle School (Storey Park Boulevard)
- Lake Como K-8 School (East Gore Street and South Bumby Avenue)
- Lake Silver Elementary School (North Rio Grande Avenue)
- Laureate Park Elementary School (Laureate Boulevard)
- Millenia Gardens Elementary School (Millenia Boulevard)
- MetroWest Elementary School (Lake Vilma Drive)
- Odyssey Middle School (Lee Vista Boulevard)
- Roberto Clemente Middle School (Roberto Clemente Road)
- Rock Lake Elementary School (North Tampa Avenue)
- Vista Lakes Elementary School (South Chickasaw Trail)
- Westpointe Elementary School (Lake Vilma Drive)
Winter Garden’s current speeding cameras are located at:
- Dillard Elementary (North Dillard Street)
- Esteem Academy (Warrior Road)
- Lakeview Middle School (West Bay Street)
- Maxey Elementary (9th Street and East Story Road)
- Sunridge Elementary/Sunridge Middle (Sunridge Blvd)
- Tildenville Elementary (Plant Street)
- West Orange High School (Beulah Road)
- Whispering Oak Elementary (West Stoneybrook Parkway)